How some people react needs to change

Throughout these changing times, many people have been subjected to a variety of emotions and experiences that may have had a big impact on their mental health. However, I feel that some people forget or perhaps just don’t understand the additional effects that abuse survivors may have felt during these uncertain times. During lockdown, I noticed behavioural changes in people - some good and some downright shocking. I feel that what perturbed me the most was people’s reactions to others not wearing masks and the instant judgement that was made in terms of non mask wearers ‘doing wrong.’ But it would appear that these reactive people failed to see beyond the mask and the reality of what some people face every day as a result of mental illness or inner struggles.

The UK government stated that one didn’t need to wear a mask if you “cannot put on, wear, or remove a face covering without severe distress” or “because of a mental or physical illness.” But I don’t believe that the government did an adequate job in expressing to the public what this actually means, they could have shown explicit examples of how people may have suffered additional distress by wearing a mask, thus highlighting the invisible nature of mental health. This could have been a great opportunity to educate the population on matters that they perhaps didn’t know about, but in that area, the government failed.

Abuse survivors were particularly affected by the lockdown and the mask wearing policy; some feeling forced to wear one in order to not experience further abuse in their lives. Survivors of domestic or child abuse may have been subjected to strangulation or mouth/nose smothering as a form of coercive control, therefore wearing a face mask could be highly triggering and distressing for survivors. No one should be subjected to re-traumatisation or feeling shamed for not being able to wear a mask, but sadly this was experienced by many survivors as a result of people’s ignorance and lack of compassion. We must learn to better educate people, show support to the vulnerable and ultimately to realise that we never truly know what the person before us has been through in their life.